Songs for Hearts
by icings
Summary: Once upon a time, they loved. A selection of OUAT's love stories, set to songs.


**i. snow/charming (can you feel the love tonight - elton john)**

A blink, a deep breath, a second. That's it, that's all it takes. A moment's passing thought, and the bone deep understanding that comes with it. And just like that, he knows.

To get back to their first child; to give their second a chance, they must return.

It's the only way. Snow had known it immediately. He knows it now.

It has to be her.

And through curses and memories lost; through hell and back together, there has never been any doubt of what Snow White loves most.

It has to be her.

So too must it be him.

_there's a calm surrender _

_to the rush of day_

_when the heat of a rolling wind _

_can be turned away _

There's no denial, not for him. No 'five steps' to go through. He speeds his own way to immediate, steadfast acceptance.

He hadn't known when it would come, obviously, but he had always known how it would go. How he wanted it to be. Were it not in destiny's plans for him to have a long, beautiful life with his wife and children - and clearly it never had been - he was willing to let go only when he knew he'd done everything he could have for his family.

Sacrificing himself for them, giving his children a chance. It's the best he can do for them, and his best is all he will ever be satisfied with giving.

He'd wanted to give them all of him.

His own heart, it seems, is what he's got. It's always been that way. From the beginning. Only fitting that it would be that way at the end.

He is at peace.

_an enchanted moment _

_and it sees me through_

_it's enough for this restless warrior _

_just to be with you _

She panics. He'd expected it, given the way she'd exhausted herself searching for some other way, some loophole in the laws of magic.

He is calm. Needs to be, for her, for the baby. Oh there's pain, of course there is, but his surrender is almost the easy part.

This is harder for her. So, so much harder.

And he knows this. Knows what he is asking of her - something he knows he could never do himself. He wouldn't be able to do it. Sacrifice his own heart? Sign him up. Sacrifice hers? Never.

The fact that he's managed to get her here, to this ominously bubbling curse in a damn pot is rather remarkable in of itself.

She always was the strong one. And she can do this now.

He's let go already. Now he's got to help her to.

Regina has turned away, some small part of him recognizes. He's grateful for it, this little act of kindness, one in a series of them. Snow will need that, when they make it back to Storybrooke. She'll need the part of Regina she has always loved, in spite of everything.

It's just them. One more moment of the rawest, purest magic that has ever been known in any realm. One more chance to hold her, to kiss her, to tell her he loves her.

Gods, does he love her.

_I can't, I can't crush your heart, I can't lose you. _

_You could never lose me. _

She's got him. She always has, always will, even when it's over.

People die. Love doesn't.

_We've always shared one heart. _

The baby's got her now. The baby, and Emma, and their love for their children. That's the way it is, the way it's supposed to be. They've had so much of each other as husband and wife - more than any lovers have ever had - but the burden of parenthood is always to love more, to give more.

In a choice between them and the children, the children come first.

And Snow knows it.

_I've loved you since the first moment I saw you. _

_And I'll love you until my last. _

They reach for each other, equals until the last, and he memorizes the feel of her kiss, gentle and soft.

It's not desperate, lacking in the heat and passion of so many kisses past.

This is a whisper of a kiss, a promise of love eternal.

He will be with her always.

It's magic. They always have been.

It's enough. She always was.

He's ready to let go.

_and can you feel the love tonight_

_it is where we are_

_it's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer_

_that we got this far_

_and can you feel the love tonight_

_how it's laid to rest_

_it's enough to make kings and vagabonds_

_believe the very best _

It hurts, as Regina had warned him it would. For Snow, he doesn't show it, but for a quick gasp.

It's going to work, he knows. Regina promised, and they've gotten to this miraculous place where he trusts her promises. He can't say it, but he knows she understands anyway as he stares at her.

(Thank you. Take care of her for me.)

(I will.)

He sees, and he knows.

There will always be love in Snow's life. Regina's. Red's, and the dwarves', and Granny's. Their children's.

His.

She'll carry their love for them both until she's ready to come for him. Someday. Someday, they will be together again. He knows it.

They've made it so far.

They'll make it again.

_Don't say goodbye. _

It isn't one.

_I love you. _

He knows.

She never said it as much as he did.

He knew anyway.

He's felt it, everywhere, always.

Even when they didn't know their own minds, they knew their hearts, because love like theirs is eternal.

Love like theirs never dies.

_I love you more than anything. _

The dark curse demands it. The heart of the thing you love most.

He's it.

_Which is why you have to crush it. _

He's smiling.

His heart is outside of his body, and he can still feel how he loves her. He's going to go, overwhelmed by that feeling, captured by it. How much he loves her.

As far as dying goes, there's far worse ways to go than with the person you love more than anything in the world telling you she feels the same way.

Choosing his own fate, with his love at his side, until the end.

It's a hell of a way to be laid to rest.

She doesn't look.

He does, watching her.

He believes.

And he goes into the oblivion on faith.

_there's a time for everyone _

_if they only learn_

_that the twisting kaleidoscope _

_moves us all in turn_

When she feels the last of the dust in the palm of her hand, she drops it quickly, not wanting to think about it, not wanting to consider the sensation.

She just wants Charming. Charming, Charming, Charming.

She dives for him, clutching him to her.

Regina is trying to talk to her, trying to reassure her, but she feels almost past sense.

Charming, Charming, Charming.

Why did it have to be this way?

She knows he was right. Knows it's what had to be done.

Why is it that to do what she must always means destroying herself?

Charming, Charming, Charming.

All she'd ever needed was him. A life with him, a family with him.

Why couldn't she have it?

The curse will grow and overtake them quickly. There's likely only minutes left.

She just wants to lie there with her husband forever.

Of course the witch wouldn't let her have even that.

They can only watch as Zelena adds her own forgetting potion to the dark curse; only listen as the hateful woman taunts her about Charming dying for nothing, about not remembering the incredible sacrifice he had made for their children, about being doomed to a lifetime of trying to find her husband when he could never be found.

_This is how you take away a happy ending. _

No.

Charming, Charming, Charming.

She lays her head back down on his shoulder, clutching him tight.

Feeling the hope flicker into nothingness, she just wants to sleep forever. Perhaps Regina could whip her up another curse.

No.

Charming, Charming, Charming.

He wouldn't want this.

He'd want... he'd want her to have his faith.

_there's a rhyme and reason _

_to the wild outdoors_

_when the heart of this star-crossed voyager _

_beats in time with yours_

It's her time to be the optimist. To believe in something more.

It shouldn't be possible... but hasn't that always been the way with them?

He'd felt it when she ate Regina's cursed apple.

That wasn't possible. But it happened anyway.

They'd always shared one heart.

Why shouldn't they now?

_We have been of one heart since the day he woke me from the sleeping curse. _

She's begging, she knows it, and she doesn't care. Regina is being kind, so gentle, and her trust increases.

As does her hope.

_I believe my heart is strong enough for both of us. _

And she does. It's as if she carries all of Charming with her now, not just his love. She's got his steadfast belief too.

This can work. It can, it will, it has to.

She puts their heart in Regina's hands, falling back as she does, back to him.

She smiles.

Either way, she'll be with Charming again.

Her heart beats on for them both.

_and can you feel the love tonight_

_it is where we are_

_it's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer_

_that we got this far_

_and can you feel the love tonight_

_how it's laid to rest_

_it's enough to make kings and vagabonds_

_believe the very best _

She'd believed in something impossible. Something even Regina - one of the most powerful sorceresses who had ever been - had never imagined.

She shared her heart, because it had always been his too.

She's alive.

She waits. She believes.

And he wakes. Gasping and disoriented, and so very - beautifully - alive.

_You're okay. We're both okay. _

No other explanation needed. He wouldn't remember it soon enough anyway.

He's okay, she's okay, the baby is okay. And they're going back to Emma. They're okay.

They've given themselves a chance. They've always done a hell of a lot with their chances.

He kisses her, hungrier this time, high with the exhilaration of being alive, in her arms, ready to face what's next.

The curse comes for them.

They are ready.

They love.

They hope.

And they believe.

Together. Always.

_it's enough to make kings and vagabonds_

_believe the very best_


End file.
